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I don't know what vegetables that have been pickled where mold grew on them, taste like, because it would make me sick to do it that way. My vegetable ferments don't stink. They do have a slight smell, but it isn't unpleasant.

Also, what they taste like depends on the bacterial culture. A lot of pickling recipes use a starter culture. Because of food allergies, I didn't use a starter. I started pickling just by chopping raw vegetables and putting them in 5% saltwater, and the bacteria on the vegetables started the culture.

I've made pickled vegetables that way that tasted very good. The taste varies.

I've pickled fruit also. Pineapple and unripe, hard fruits don't turn mushy when pickled. But I used some of the brine from veggie pickles as a starter culture.

Hard veggies tend to work better for pickling though. It might be the short-chain fatty acids that are produced when the bacteria digest the fiber in the vegetables, that makes the pickled veg's taste good - giving them smoothness. Pickled fruit just tastes sour, and I'm doing less of it. The short-chain fatty acids may help regulate the immune system.

Oh, but we should feed the little kiddies candy. Just imagine that spirits can be appeased on this day if you feed them. They are dead, so how do they eat now? Oh, that was a long time ago. Sorry.

Wife and I don't feed the kiddies, and the gymnasium idea is a very good one if people want to go for it. Count me out on religious ideas or any superstition that comes from it. In todays world the goblins are very likely real people who want to harm, rob, or kill. Why take a chance.

In my childhood the young trick or treater was given poison candy and he died from it. The father cried and cried wanting the killer brought to justice. How could any monster do something like this to his precious child? The monster was finally brought to his just rewards. It was found that the father had a heavy insurance policy on the boy. Halloween was never the same after that, and the door was opened for it to get worse and worse year after year.

Oh, but we should feed the little kiddies candy. Just imagine that spirits can be appeased on this day if you feed them. They are dead, so how do they eat now? Oh, that was a long time ago. Sorry.

Wife and I don't feed the kiddies, and the gymnasium idea is a very good one if people want to go for it. Count me out on religious ideas or any superstition that comes from it. In todays world the goblins are very likely real people who want to harm, rob, or kill. Why take a chance.

In my childhood the young trick or treater was given poison candy and he died from it. The father cried and cried wanting the killer brought to justice. How could any monster do something like this to his precious child? The monster was finally brought to his just rewards. It was found that the father had a heavy insurance policy on the boy. Halloween was never the same after that, and the door was opened for it to get worse and worse year after year.

I don't get many trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. I kind of suspect that trick or treating is going the way of the cassette tape. Parents are, and SHOULD be, afraid of who might answer the door, and what they might be giving out. So I'm seeing more Halloween parties, many even sponsored by churches. And I think that's a far better way to go.

I personally don't want to celebrate Pagan holidays any more than I want to celebrate Christian ones. I was raised Jewish and I don't even celebrate Jewish holidays, except in fun -- one year, when Passover and Easter fell at the same time, my atheist (Jewish) brother and atheist (Lutheran) sister-in-law invited me over for Eastover. Which was simply a family meal and a game which we all enjoyed. But we could do that any time!

Personally, I disagree with the the "Parents...SHOULD be," although you are right that they are. People are not somehow more evil than they were back in the day, rose colored glasses notwithstanding, and despite what we hear from the if it bleeds it leads media over saturation, today is arguably a safer age than it was before.

The problem with bygone ages of before is that we were all so incredibly naive. This mindset would include the "bad guy" as well as anyone, so lots of people could even keep there doors unlocked way back when. Thanks to the media and the "monkey see - monkey do" mentality of most humans, you have to be on your toes today. Is it a safer age today? To survive you have to become safer.

My religious parents used to say that "the devil is running wild in the world today." Apparently this idea reinforced their "end time" beliefs. The truth is, nobody gave a shit what happened in Iraq in 1950. Media reporting was usually bland until the Viet Nam war came into your living room at dinner time. Increased travel and media reporting has capitalized on bad events making the world sound like such a terrible place. If you are religious you have the "fix" for this, and you know that before long "you are going to be in a better place." Suddenly you are the smart one because your religion has informed you of everything.

How awful! By all means, something has to change ... since you can't change the number of kids ringing for a treat, you have to take action. Not turning on the light works for me. I hope your door ringers have been brought up to respect others. Making friends with the local kids helps me because they kind of shield me from the bullies that come into the neighborhood just for treats. There are plenty of parents walking with their kids that helps to keep mischief down, perhaps.

We live in a small town where this is a big deal. All the kiddies who live in the countryside get loaded up in the van and are driven to town where they tumble out of the van like it's a clown car, hit a block en mass, trudge back into the van, and get driven up to the next block. We also have a meddling city council, who like to dicker with sacred holidays like Halloween due to stupid things like conflicting school athletic functions. So some years Halloween is on Halloween, other years it's on the Sunday before. The years that it's on the Sunday before, I refuse-REFUSE-to partake. All the lights in the house go off, not a lovingly carved pumpkin is lit, no spiders crawl from the storm drain, no ghosts look out from the window.

This year it was joyfully in it's rightful place, so I poured some adult cider into a giant plastic cup, put a folding chair on the front step, took my kindle and a big cat head bag full of candy out, put my Frankenstein hat on, and gave over an hour and a half of my life to hearing kids go "hey look! blinky eyes!" "is that real?" (meaning the carved pumpkin) "i like your pig!" (we have a pink pig watering can that I left with the carved pumpkins, cause it's a pig and why not) "i'm not a fairy princess, i'm the Good Witch!" "can you guess who I am???!!" and "who's that in the window?" If I could have given out prizes, I would have given first prize to the kid who dressed as Rorschach from the Watchmen (very creepy). He (she?? it could have been) didn't say a word and just stared. Creepy.

And yes, I gave out two pieces of candy. Because that's how I roll. And I wanted to get it over faster. Also, anyone who gives out toothbrushes or temporary tattoos is lame and deserves the pumpkin smashing they get later.